Northeast Tennis

I know it doesn't have the highest ranked team but it's a very competitive region. Here's a breakdown of some of the favorites of the region, all who will also compete at the ECACs.

St Johns:
Returns 5 starters, and only lost their number 6 player who they replaced with Texas transfer Vasko Mladenov. Arguably have the best 1-5 in the region as of right now. They also have Ilija Vucic coming in January who was ranked as high as 30 in ITF juniors. Look to be the favorite this year.

Princeton:
Another team that returns 5 starters. They arguably have the best doubles in the region with the only other competition being Harvard. Solid number 1 in Pecotic. The team however will go however their 2-4 play. Their bottom is weak compared to some other years.

Harvard:
Return about 4 starters I believe. Have the higest ranked player in the region with John Pearlman even though he is very overrated as shown at regionals. One of the best doubles in the region with Princeton. Solid lineup from top to bottom. Denis Ngyuen will be asked to win alot of matches at the 3/4 position.

Those are the three favorites this year. These are some of the dark horses.

Yale:
If the top 3 come to play they could challenge most of the upper teams. However it always seems they aren't always on the same page. Not a very good bottom of the lineup but they do have solid doubles.

Brown:
Another solid team with Brandon Burke at the top spot. Have some good players however they always seem to be out of it and never play to potential.

Cornell:
Rebuilding year to be honest. However they can compete with some teams but mostly are looking forward to future years.

Columbia:
Interesting team. Haig Schniderman(SP) had the biggest win of his life at Indoors over Chase B. Solid freshmen who will be hungry. Could be a surprise this year.

Quite frankly, I don't put too much stock in rankings. My team beat two teams that are ranked in the region over the past season and didn't get ranked. My first doubles team beat 3 of the teams ranked in the section and didn't get ranked. There is a bias when it comes to rankings. There is no straight formula. It is based on the coaches who do the polls and what schools that their teams play. Prior seasons of rankings help, meaning the name of your school.

Quite frankly, I don't put too much stock in rankings. My team beat two teams that are ranked in the region over the past season and didn't get ranked. My first doubles team beat 3 of the teams ranked in the section and didn't get ranked. There is a bias when it comes to rankings. There is no straight formula. It is based on the coaches who do the polls and what schools that their teams play. Prior seasons of rankings help, meaning the name of your school.

They are, but at the D3 level, there are so few at-large bids. We make nationals because we win our conference. In the past, before the AQ, even when we had a high regional ranking, we were never looked at because of our prior relatively weak conference. It didn't matter that we only lost to Amherst 4-3. Schools in the NESCAC are traditionally very strong, but we beat one of them last year and they still are ranked ahead of us. NESCAC schools have limited dates of competition and most of their losses are to other NESCAC or other traditionally high ranked schools, therefore, none of those losses really ever count against themselves and it was nearly impossible in the east to get a breakthrough in the rankings over those teams. Now, with the AQ, there are less at-large bids, which means a deserving school from that conference won't get in over a conference champion from a weaker conference. However, at the same time it gives so many more schools the opportunity to compete at the national level.

Should be an interesting finish to the men's Ivy League title this weekend. Columbia clinched a share of the title and the auto-berth to NCAAs last weekend, but Harvard and Dartmouth play for the other half of the title this coming Saturday. Winner of the match should get an at-large bid to NCAAs and if Dartmouth wins both could get an at-large bid. 3 Ivy teams in NCAA would be a great year for the league

"Columbia would get the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by virtue of its wins over both teams earlier in the season. If Harvard wins, the Crimson clinch the title and the bid outright, and the #45 Lions will hope for an at-large bid to the 64-team tournament."

seems pretty clear to me, if Harvard wins they are 6-1 and Columbia is 5-2